Rival Views: Did the committee get it right?

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney don’t always see eye to eye. In this edition of Rival Views, the two debate whether the College Football Playoff selection committee got the best four teams in the country.

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The key word here is “best,” and I don’t think they did.

Penn State would beat Washington the way they are playing and might beat Ohio State again or Clemson. Oklahoma and the way the offense is clicking would take care of Washington and possibly Clemson as well, although I’m not sure it would beat Ohio State in a rematch.

Alabama and Clemson are the two most talented teams in the country when it comes to overall roster and Ohio State is right up there, but Washington isn’t one of the “best” four. USC would likely throttle them again at this stage and they are down at No. 9.

I know Michigan destroyed Penn State earlier this year, so Wolverines fans will want to be included in this discussion if the Nittany Lions are, but the teams playing the best at the end of the season are Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and either Penn State or Oklahoma. Washington would lose to all of them.

In an attempt to not sound too agreeable, I actually think the College Football Playoff committee got it right with the four teams selected, even if those are not the four playing the best football right now.

Alabama is an easy one. The Crimson Tide should be in and they might not be stopped en route to another national championship.

I could accept some arguments against Ohio State since the Buckeyes didn’t win the Big Ten East, thus didn’t play for a conference championship, and Penn State beat them and won the conference title. That one is a little hard to swallow, but with only one loss, I can see why the Buckeyes are in.

Clemson and Washington won the ACC and Pac-12, respectively, and deserve spots as well. If the committee took Penn State, Michigan or Oklahoma, really the only three other teams with a realistic chance, it would be sending a message to the ACC and Pac-12 champs that winning a conference title game means absolutely nothing at all.

If any team got jobbed a little bit it’s Penn State – the Nittany Lions beat Ohio State, won the Big Ten and finished with nine straight wins, including a come-from-behind thriller over Wisconsin on Saturday night. But that 39-point loss at Michigan really hurt Penn State, which also lost to Pitt.

But the committee did the smart thing. An argument could be made for PSU since it is playing so well. USC is playing great, too, and I doubt any team wants to see the Trojans right now. But the four teams selected for the College Football Playoff deserve it over a season’s worth of football.

I still think Alabama rolls, but the committee got it right.